More Than You Think You Are
by Ygraine
Summary: After the war, Ginny flees the wizarding world and now her daughter has come to Hogwarts only to find whispers and stares wherever she goes...
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **More Than You Think You Are

**Author: **Ygraine

**Summary: **After the war, Ginny flees the wizarding world, but now her daughter has come to Hogwarts, only to find stares and whispers where-ever she goes...

**Disclaimer: **Needless to say, I'm not JK Rowling, so this story is for enjoyment only, not to make profit in anyway.

**A/N**: Thanks to my Beta, Jim, who corrected my terrible spelling and all things pants in this story, all hail him.

**Chapter one**

Bethany Richardson was really an ordinary girl.

Or so she thought.

It had barely been three months since she had received the letter, the letter that changed her life. After she read it, her mother had given her a long look, a slightly worried look as though she knew it would happen but still didn't know what to do about it. After what seemed a lifetime but couldn't have been more than a minute, her mother told her everything.

So, Ginny Richardson was a witch. She told her daughter that she had left the wizarding world, found out she was pregnant, and got married quite soon after and never looked back. When Beth asked why, she merely said that it was all too painful, she muttered something about her family but became very quiet for a couple of hours until Beth mentioned that she wanted to go to this school. It was obvious that she didn't want her daughter going, but did nothing to stop her either.

Beth's father, Ian Richardson was a simple muggle man, who apparently had no idea about the wizarding world that his wife had left behind. There had been a fight, not long after her mum's confession, where Beth had shut herself in her room listening to her father's accusations of lies and past lovers, but to her surprise the next day allowed Beth to go if it was what she truly wanted to do.

Her thoughts were constantly going back to that fight, the insults thrown back and forth, something about betrayal of trust. She was pretty sure she heard the word divorce and, a boy's name, what it was she couldn't remember. Beth shuddered, not wanting to think about it, but unable to do anything else either. _Maybe I shouldn't have come...dad didn't want me to, neither did mum._ She shook her head. I'm me, this is who I am, and nothing can change that.

Rumours had started when Mr Richardson had to pull out Beth's application for the Comprehensive school in the next town, saying that his daughter was going to some boarding school up north. No name was given. She had overheard a whispered conversation between Mrs Nyman and Mr Farlowe, who ran the local shop, that she was apparently going to a convent! Beth had been hiding in fear of getting caught, her nose delved in a teen magazine that her mother never let her have. How these rumours started Beth didn't know. At that moment though Beth had just discovered she was a witch, which was just another strange event, in a childhood that had been rather strange.

Not the most popular girl at her Primary school Beth normally stayed behind the canteen with her friend Emily and they talked, or played a small game that either had smuggled in. Of course, in such a small Village, rumours were very common, and the Richardson's often seemed to be at the centre of them. Whispered conversation was heard all over town.

"That strange red headed woman, with that man of hers"

"Not to mention the illegitimate child" who looked like a pixy had left her on the doorstep.

Suddenly she wondered if that could be the case...it would explain the fights, not to mention the hair! Unconsciously she gave her pony tail a sharp tug to keep it in place.

No, she was being silly! Yes, Beth was born before her parents were married but that, according to her father was common enough nowadays, and it was just old fashioned people like Mrs Nyman who populated the Village that thought otherwise.

As she thought back to her life over the past few weeks, and how her life had been turned upside down by the truth about her mother, she looked around at her surroundings. Beth was sitting on a train on her own, as it pulled out of London. As the city disappeared into the distance behind her, she still wondered if she had indeed made the right decision. Her father seemed so angry, but she still didn't understand why. Just as her thoughts were reaching an all time low, the compartment door slid open, and there stood a blonde girl with blue eyes. "Hi." She said, "Would you mind if I sat here?" Beth shook her head and gestured to the seat. "I'm Iliana Thorne," Said the blonde girl as she sat down opposite Beth.

"Bethany Richardson, but everyone calls me Beth." She replied.

Iliana smiled and tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. Beth could not help a sharp feeling of jealousy towards the girl sat opposite her, and wished she could look like her. As she watched, the girl delved into a cat carrier that Beth hadn't previously noticed, and pulled out the blackest cat Beth had ever seen, the cat had Amber eyes which seemed to light up the room light a lamp.

"Oh it's a beautiful cat, what's his name?" she asked.

"She, and her name's Kiara. My father got her for me when I got my letter, he was ever so proud of me." She smiled, and her tone made Beth think that this was normal practise, heightening her feelings that she really was an abnormal child.

"Are both your parents magical then?" she asked.

"Yeah, my mum's Muggleborn though, brought shame on the whole family" She said light heartedly. "They didn't like the blood to be tainted." She shrugged it off as if it were normal to speak this way, and looked up at Beth, "you?"

"Oh, my dad's a muggle, mum's a witch, but she didn't tell anybody until I got my letter. I don't know why, she left this world and went to the muggle, met dad and had me. They had a massive fight about it when I got the letter through, but I didn't know until Mum told me everything a few weeks ago."

Iliana looked confused, and quickly scanned her face, before speaking. "You didn't know your mum was a witch, what about you? Didn't you do...funny things?"

Beth frowned in concentration as she watched Iliana petting Kiara softly, who purred at her touch. She thought back to her childhood and remembered little things, mainly done while at school, like when Chris Saunders was teasing her about her glasses only last year, he had found himself well and truly silenced for a good minute, no matter how often he opened his mouth nothing would come out. It was a blessing for the whole class. But no-one could explain how it happened. "Yes..." Beth murmured, "I guess, I just never thought about it before."

"Suppose, if you thought you were a muggle, you'd just try and suppress it. My mum works in the ministry, she says the amount of times she's gone to wipe Muggle's memories and they don't recall the event is amazing! They just push it out."

Beth frowned at Iliana's last words. "They wipe muggle's memories?" She tried not to think what "_The Ministry_ was" maybe it was some sort of club or society?

"Well, yeah." Iliana said slowly. "They have to don't they? Otherwise they'd know about us. It'll just hurt them more if they knew though, if you think about it. Besides there are so many more muggles, they would wipe us out. It's horrible to think, but humans always fear things we don't understand. It's exactly the same in the wizarding world; plenty of people hate muggles..." As in on cue, the door slid opened, and they saw the back of a golden haired boy who was yelling in the other direction.

"Ah shut it you fascist gits!" He turned around to speak to them smiling with dark twinkling eyes. "Hi, sorry about that, would you girls mind if I sat here?" Both girls shook their heads, and watched him sit down. "Ta very much," as he leaned back, stretching, as if he'd just performed strenuous exercise. "I was sitting with a couple of other boys in the next compartment, and they just started abusing my father. Gits!" He yelled again at the door, even though it was now firmly shut, then looked around at the two girls. "I'm Tyrone by the way."

"I'm Bethany, or Beth" Said Beth, "and this is Iliana." Iliana smiled and waved, before turning her attention to Kiara again.

"So who is dad by the way?" she said as she scratched the cat behind the ears.

He gave what looked to be an apologetic look before saying "Remus Lupin." This was obviously meant to spark recognition in her, but it didn't, Beth wondered silently why Iliana had bothered to ask in the first place but as Beth looked at her face it was obvious that she knew the name. Beth had the sudden thought that maybe the Wizarding world was like back home. Everyone knowing each other, outsiders treated with caution and suspicion...Maybe Mrs Nyman was a witch... Beth shook her head. No, it's a fresh start, away from the whispers and stares. _No one knows me...I could be any one here...Turn over a new leaf so they say. I could even give a stab at being popular_. An image of Imogen Birnie, the most loved girl in her old school, popped into her head, she was mean and a bully...Beth didn't like that idea. She was snapped from her thoughts from Iliana speaking again.

"Remus Lupin," she repeated; a look of shock on her face. "Isn't he a werewolf?" she asked. As she spoke Beth felt her eyes widen, _werewolves exist?_ She asked herself._ Obviously, _the other part said. _And pro-create too by the sounds of it._ "Didn't he teach of Hogwarts for a while?" Said Iliana, He nodded. "Does that mean you're a..." she spoke again, but was cut off by Tyrone mid sentence.

"Werewolf?" he said, and Iliana nodded. "No, loners rarely pass it onto children. But then again, they rarely have children so people don't really know."

"A loner?" Beth asked, a look of wonder across her face.

"My dad's a loner, it means that he was bitten, a made werewolf, he's not part of a pack, which are families of werewolves. There are some in Russia apparently, according to dad though. They hid during the war." Beth furrowed her eyebrows, wondering when a war had taken place, _maybe they mean the world wars I learned about last year,_ she tried to remember what she'd learned but all she could think at the moment was something about Germany and the Jewish. Iliana noticed Beth's confusion.

"Didn't your mum explain anything to you once you got the letter? You don't know anything about the wars against Voldemort?" She asked, and Beth shook her head. "Well, there was this dark wizard called Voldemort and he thought that pure-blooded wizards, who have no muggle blood in them, were better than anyone else. He started gathering followers about...thirty-five years ago?" She looked to Tyrone for some help.

"About that yeah, my dad was at school. He's quite old now"

"Any way" Iliana continued. "He went to kill this family, the Potters, the husband and wife died, but when he cast the killing curse on the little boy Harry, the curse rebounded, and hit Voldemort instead and he vanished. Harry was famous, and all he had was a lightening bolt scar on his forehead. Any way, about thirteen fourteen years later, Voldemort comes back, and there's the second war. But, well, all you need to know is that, Harry killed Voldemort about twelve years ago, and he's really famous!"

Beth blinked. How could her mother fail to mention all this, it seemed pretty important? Could it have been this that caused Ginny to run away from the wizarding world, could this have caused all the pain? She didn't know. "Did a lot of people die in the war?" She asked, shocked that this man would want to kill a baby! It gave Beth the shivers; imagine growing up knowing that someone had tried to kill you when you were little?

"Yeah, a fair few, The Bones', The Prewetts, I think a few Weasley's died too, Sirius Black too" She turned to Tyrone, "Didn't your dad know him?"

"Yeah, went to school with him, the Potters too, they were best friends. Um, who else died, oh Emmeline Vance, and Albus Dumbledore of course, don't forget Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore?" Beth asked; what a funny name she thought to herself, but then again, she'd never heard of Iliana or Tyrone, even Kiara before today.

Tyrone blinked at Beth. "Are you a Muggleborn?"

Beth gave a small shrug before replying. "Sort of, my mum's a witch but she went to live in muggle society. I'm guessing it has something to do with the war. I didn't know anything about magic." _Now I look like a complete fool! She thought _Somehow it was different explaining this to Iliana, the girl, to a boy it was different.

Tyrone frowned slightly and appeared to be studying her features, looking for any resemblance, it wasn't until then did Beth realised that Iliana had done the same, but was just a lot more subtle about it. _Yup, it's just like back home; they want to know exactly who you are. _She sighed inwardly. "Any way, who's Albus Dumbledore?"

It was Iliana that replied. "Albus Dumbledore was headmaster at Hogwarts but he was killed by one of the teachers Severus Snape!" She paused before speaking again. "But then…" She stopped in her tracks and waved it away as if it was unimportant. Which left Beth feeling like this Snape character was really rather important, but Beth didn't pursue the matter. "Any way", continued Iliana. "After that the school closed, but reopened, when Voldemort died, and now Minerva McGonagall is headmistress." Beth blinked a few times, and looked at them, totally dumbstruck. No wonder her mother didn't want her daughter going into this world, no wonder Ginny Richardson had fled. The fact that two eleven year olds could call names from the top of their heads that had died before they were born meant a lot of people had died. Did her mother's family die? Were they mentioned by Tyrone and Iliana?

Beth didn't know, but she wanted to find out.

x

"Get up now!" Iliana yelled. Beth groaned and rolled over, putting her pillow over her head. "Bethany! You're going to be late!"

It was a week after their arrival at Hogwarts, and Beth was lying in bed, her thoughts still on the conversation they had had on the train from London. Her thoughts were swept away as the red curtains around her bed were opened and pillows were thrown at her in an effort to get her to move. Beth took them and placed under her head muttering thanks towards Iliana. "We have half an hour left of breakfast, and then classes start."

"I know." Beth muttered. Still, she'd rather be in her bed, all lovely and warm. "Suppose I should get up..." she murmured.

"You suppose? Oh I don't believe you. Tyrone's downstairs waiting for _you,_ I might add. He won't leave without you. And he has the patience of a...well..._a very patient thing_!"

Beth blinked, and thought of Tyrone. He was lovely; he had dark blonde hair, which looked like gold shimmering, and dark eyes which twinkled like stars. He drew the attention of all the girls in their house, Gryffindor. To her surprise they had all been sorted into the same house. The 'fascist gits' Tyrone had met on the train, had been sorted into Slytherin, which drew a smug smile from Tyrone as he watched them walk to the Slytherin table, the first night they were there. It was the last day of their first week at Hogwarts, and besides, singing hats, talking paintings, ghosts, and moving staircases, not the mention the fact that they learned magic, it was like any secondary school Beth could think of. There were ground rules, no wondering after curfew, you weren't allowed in the forest, which had monsters in, and you got detentions if you broke said rules. Not the mention the deduction of house points.

With an almighty sigh Beth threw the covers off her and sat up, getting out of bed. It was a very tiring thing for Beth to do, and this simple act of sitting up made Beth very sleepy again, and she fell back onto the bed. Iliana was having none of this and grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "Now," she said throwing some clean clothes at Beth. "Get dressed; I'll be back up in five minutes, hurry up I want my breakfast." She said as she left the dorm.

Beth rolled her eyes, wondering why she just didn't go without her, but of course, there was Tyrone. He was a funny one. According to Iliana, Remus Lupin was famous in the wizarding world, one of the only werewolves to have got married, to an Auror no less, named Nymphadora Tonks, who was a member of the Black family. Beth soon found out she was best off ignoring Iliana's talk about families. Lupin, was supposedly 'freakishly calm' according to Iliana's mother, who had met him once or twice. This trait is something that he had passed onto his son, so, all the attention he got went in the batter of an eye lid. He just ignored it all though, all the sighs and looks he got from all the girls, even Iliana.

Slowly she began to unbutton her pyjama top and put her blouse on; when she was dressed she went to the dorm door and was met by Iliana who was smiling. "Good, now that wasn't hard was it?" Beth shook her head and followed her new friend down the stairs, where they saw Tyrone sitting very lazily in an armchair, reading a copy of _Teen Witch weekly_ that some one had obviously left lying around. Beth watched him for a while, suppressing a giggle, as his eyes widened at something he was reading and he threw it hastily aside. When he saw the two girls he sat up quickly, and at their raised eyebrows muttered.

"Some girl, just left it there" he said a look of embarrassment on his face. "Do you really read that?" They both nodded and smiled. "Silly problem pages, anyway, breakfast any one?" Beth smiled and began to follow Tyrone out the room.

"Oh Beth remember your bag, we won't have time to come back." Iliana said before leaving the door. Sighing slightly Beth ran up and grabbed her bag, it tugged slightly on her ponytail as she swung it over her shoulder, but she pulled the offending black hair out the way. She managed to catch up with them down by the Great Hall, but before she did, she bumped into a blonde boy about her age maybe a year or two older, who was in Slytherin, who snarled at her quite nastily as she walked past.

"Hey," Beth said, delving into her bag to check that she had her glasses with her, she had left in such a rush she couldn't remember whether she had taken them out the night before, she had them so she put them back in her bag and tried her best to forget about them, she had already got a couple or raised eyebrows from pupils and teachers no less! Weren't glasses around in the Wizarding world? But a couple of the teachers had them, so Beth just ignored them. Taking herself away from depressing thoughts, she sat next to her two new friends and helped herself to bacon and eggs. "What do we have first thing?"

"Charms" Tyrone said eyeing the timetable suspiciously "With Professor Flitwick."

"Charms? Is that basic spell casting?" Beth asked; her mouth rather full of bacon as she spoke.

"Yeah it's learning how to make things fly or dance, that sort of thing." replied Tyrone.

Oh, that sounds fun, she thought, so with a smile and a yawn Beth followed the other Gryffindors up some stairs and into the Charms classroom. There they were met by an old man who was very short, so short in fact he had to stand on numerous books in order to see over his class. Once they had all settled he called out the register. "Welcome, welcome to charms," He said afterwards, "I am Professor Flitwick, now will everyone take out their wands please?"

It was an hour-long lesson in the correct wrist movements in spell casting. By the time it was over she felt that if she heard _Swish and flick _one more time she would tell them where they should put said wand movements. They had Defence against the Dark Arts again with Professor Jamieson, who was there for an apparently record breaking third year straight in teaching that subject, Tyrone had mentioned something about a jinx in the job which meant that a few years ago, before they were born, every teacher only lasted one year in the job for one reason or another. They also had Defence on Tuesdays. Beth didn't mind the defence classes; in fact she quite liked them. After that, they had Potions. She hadn't read who they had, nor did she really care. She knew so little about the wizarding world it would be unlikely she knew any of these teachers who were so famous.

They took their desks in the potions classroom and as Beth looked around the dark room she heard a dull thud, and looked towards Tyrone, who had hit his head of the desk with an almighty sigh. "Oh Merlin, I keep forgetting he teaches here again." Beth didn't bother to ask, but she did furrow her brow in question, Tyrone turned his head towards her slightly "Snape, he..."

"Wait." Said Beth, she _knew _that name. "Didn't he kill Dumbledore? Or was that someone else?" She couldn't properly remember.

"No", Iliana said, putting her bag on the table, a depressed look about her "He killed him. What's he doing teaching here again?" Beth nodded, fear written obviously over her face. "When he killed Dumbledore, Snape was still on our side. I don't fully understand it, but something about spies or something. They found out when they finally investigated Dumbledore's Will, all in there and they can't be forged you know." Iliana nodded at Beth's mute protest.

"He's on our side" Tyrone mumbled, Beth couldn't hear very well because he was speaking into his bag. "My dad went to school with him, they hated each other. This is going to be a fun class." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Beth started getting her quills and parchment out. Sill curious, biting her lower lip she thought, why would they hire a _known murderer _to teach school children. Again, she understood why had Ginny had fled. The wizarding legal system didn't sound very good. She suddenly began to wonder about the other teachers, in muggle society police checks were in order, what about wizarding? Worry spread through her, as she thought about Professor Jamieson's strange smiles. Beth voiced her concerns about Snape and their safety to her friends; however she kept the ones about their Defence teacher to herself. Paranoia she told herself firmly, that was the reason for her worrying so much.

"You'd think wouldn't you?" said Tyrone with the smallest of smiles. "But no, they let him teach again. In the last year he was teaching, he taught Defence but they didn't want a Defence teacher when he came back a few years ago. So he took up the potions master position, whatever you say about Snape you can't argue against him being the best brewer in Britain, and I guess, he didn't want to kill Dumbledore, he was made to, by Dumbledore no less." He gave a small shrug and Beth considered all this, still not liking the sound of it.

However her thoughts were rudely interupted by a loud bang, she jumped and looked around to the door, there, there was a tall man, with long chin length greasy black hair with a few specks of grey. He did look menacing Beth thought to herself. "There will be no foolish wand waving in this class" said the man as he walked to the front of the classroom, the sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine

"Oh Thank God..." Beth muttered, pushing her bag onto the floor pausing slightly wondering if she would need her glasses, concluding that she was close enough to the murderer (closer than she would like to be) she left them off. She scratched her forehead slightly and looked up, and saw that Snape had stopped talking and was glaring at her with black bottomless eyes, as was everyone else. She furrowed her eyebrows..._huh?_

"What did you say?" Snape asked, his voice rising, a few people cringed around her Beth just blinked, and stared at her teacher. _Oh_...was all she thought for some reason.

"I'm sorry, I just muttered, 'Thank God' If I hear swish and flick again, I think I'll die. I'm sorry sir." She blinked and stared directly into those eyes, he was scanning her, looking for something. Only he seemed to find something, which other people hadn't. He looked at the register, obviously failing to see a name he recognised as maybe being hers.

"Who are you?" He snapped.

"Bethany Richardson."

He just looked at her some more with those eyes, "Your woes about your charm lessons are of no concern to you while you are in this classroom now, as I was saying before I was ru...interupted. You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of Potion making." He turned his gaze away from Beth and looked around at the rest of the class.

Beth just let herself listen to him. It was all rather interesting, she thought. He than rattled some questions at Tyrone who answered them all rather quickly, as if he'd been expecting it and had studied accordingly. When she left nearly two hours later, she found herself rather looking forward to the next potion lesson, despite his reaction to what she had said, she found the subject fascinating, and couldn't wait until they had potions again.

A/N: yes yes, i made him good dammit! . i couldn't live without him! Oh and Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, and don't own Harry Potter

A/N: Thanks to my wonderful Beta Jim

Chapter 2

_Bethany,_

_I'm glad that everything seems to be alright and that you're settling in, I hope that your first year is a lot less eventful than mine. (That story will wait until you are older. Just don't trust anything that can think for itself)_

_I'm also very glad that you got sorted into Gryffindor; I was in Gryffindor too when I went to Hogwarts._

_Everything is fine here, Dad's work is getting a little stressful, not to mention Mrs Nyman's strange looks, but that's always happened, we're used to it now. Emily's mum asked me to tell you that Emily is missing you, and would like to write to you. I'm sure you know that telling Muggles about Magic is illegal, so be careful what you say, give your letters to me and I'll be sure to pass them on._

_About Professor Snape, be wary of him, he taught me at school, and he was a nasty piece of work then! However it's good that these last couple of lessons you seem to be getting along alright with him. I presume that talent for potions comes from your Father being a chemistry teacher; they're quite similar in essence. Don't tell Snape that I am your mother, the fact that Snape doesn't despise you even though you are a Gryffindor will stand you in good favour, if he found out who you are, it will be gone. He really is that shallow, I went to school with a boy whose Father was in the same year as Professor Snape, and he hated the boy, just because he hated his Father. Too many questions will follow, questions that I am not ready to answer, and you are not ready to hear._

_We miss you terribly, and hope to see you over the Christmas break_

_Love, _

_Mum and Dad._

Beth closed her eyes tightly and resisted the urge to burn the letter, she had too many questions, and wasn't getting any answers. Beth wasn't stupid; she knew that this had something to do with the looks that the teachers were giving her. They had to be. It wasn't just the first week, it had kept going. McGonagall the Rector had given her a hard look and shook her head as though dismissing it. Beth hadn't thought much of this because she was old... But Professor Snape, who was quite old, but not old enough to be going senile, continued to search her face. Tyrone tried comforting her saying that she just had one of those faces people couldn't help but look at. But this never happened back home. Well it did, but not in the same way.

She sighed and rolled the letter up, placing it into her pocket, trying not to think about what the outcome of those questions could be. It was Quidditch today and Tyrone was making her go. However when Iliana explained it earlier that week, the idea hadn't appealed plus Gryffindor weren't even playing, so it was with a heavy heart that she followed her friend to the Quidditch stands, all wrapped up in scarves and jumpers for the bitter October day.

x

The speed, The excitement, The pure thrill!

She wasn't too sure on the rules still; all she knew was that she loved it! Tyrone had sad that he would try and explain the rules to her again after they had finished their potions assignment. Truthfully, she didn't really mind if she knew the rules or not at that moment all she cared was that she had seen the best sport in her life. She knew while watching the game that she was grinning and cheering like an idiot, which made her get a rather strange look from Professor Snape, but she didn't care, she was having such a good time she didn't care what people thought of her then, nor whether people were looking at her.

"It really wasn't that good a game" Tyrone said, Iliana linked arms with him "My Godfather took me to the world cup last year and it was amazing. Even for Hogwarts that game wasn't that good. Hufflepuff caught the snitch far too early."

"Your Godfather took you to games? Is he a Quidditch fan then?" Iliana asked. Her blue eyes dull, obviously not really interested, but wanting to spark up conversation with Tyrone, Beth rolled her eyes, and tried hard not to laugh. Iliana had been trying to catch Tyrone's interest for quite a while, and she just wouldn't except that Tyrone just wasn't that interested in her.

"He's a huge fan! He plays quite a bit too, made sure I could ride a broom pretty much before I could walk. I can't wait until I'm able to try out next year!"

Beth's mood deflated. She'd never ridden a broom before, there was no way that she'd be able to play for the house Quidditch team, she thought about buying one over the summer, but then she remembered that there was no way she would be able to practise, Mrs Nyman would see her. She sighed and kicked a stone that was in front of her, Iliana was talking but she wasn't really listening, just thinking, until she heard something that caught her attention.

"Flying lessons?" Beth asked perking up.

"Yeah," Iliana said like it was obvious. "We were meant to start a few weeks ago but Madam Hooch is having family problems and had to go home. Notice how Jamieson was referee?" She hadn't, but Beth didn't think about that, Iliana was continuing. "Apparently some former pupil has volunteered to teach us for a while." Sheshrugged, and Tyrone shifted his weight slightly looking at the floor. They were going into the castle when that boy that Beth had bumped into all those weeks ago, looked her up and down and snarled before scampering away quickly. Beth had a problem contemplating what had happened, he had actually snarled at her!

"What's Nott doing that to you for?" Tyrone asked, Beth raised her eyebrows "Teirnan Nott's a nasty piece of work" He continued. "His uncle was a Voldemort supporter, a Death Eater, His Dad was suspected of that too but they couldn't prove it. So why was he doing that for?"

"Why is everyone doing it?" She muttered darkly, looking at the floor again. Neither of her friends could answer that.

In the next potions class, Beth found herself eyeing Snape curiously thinking about her mother's warning. Would he really 'abandon' her if he found out who her mother was? Snape had been rather kind to her, he had seen her pouring over a potions book in the library even no homework had been set and had warmed to her ever since. Well warmed as much as the cold hearted Slytherin would allow. She didn't know why he was like this towards her, as he wasn't to any other Gryffindors who all hated him, even some of the Slytherins seemed too! In a way it scared Beth and she wondered if Snape saw qualities within her that no one else saw. There often was a strange gleam in his eye, as though he reminded her of someone who he had been fond of. Beth shivered and silently wondered if she wanted to be thought of someone that Snape was fond of, even if that meant she didn't get detention of points deducted. She also wondered what said qualities could be, if there were any of course.

_'Oh my, you are a cunning little one...'_

Shut up! Beth told the voice in her head, that eerie voice in her ear of the sorting hat almost two months previously. Was it really two months? In all that time she had only gotten one letter from her mother. She suddenly felt as though her mother was glad that she had gone to Hogwarts now, only one letter, a short one at that. Then again, it wasn't as though she had written a lot either. _'I'm busy; mum only has a part time job, much more time to spare than I do.'_ Her thoughts were so involved in mentally chiding her mother she failed to notice that Professor Snape had asked her a question.

"Miss Richardson, I asked you a question. What is the difference between Wolfsbane and Monkshood?"

Bethany looked up at those cold black eyes, which seemed as though they had little, if any warmth in them. "Aren't they the same thing sir?" she replied. His eyes flicked up to Tyrone and glared at the boy.

"Indeed. Am I to understand that our young Mr Lupin told you that? We all know his relationship to that, little plant." He said very slowly and every word of it dripping with malice. Bethany swallowed and wondered why Tyrone would know any thing about it, and then thought that maybe it was something to do with the fact that his dad was a werewolf. Tyrone blinked but continued to stare at the loathed teacher.

"No, I read it sir." Bethany said firmly.

"So you say Miss Richardson." He said, waving her comments away. Bethany furrowed her eyebrows and wondered what had bought that on. He was fine when he saw her in the library only last week! She frowned, and continued to stare at the Potions Master as he put instructions on the board; for the remainder of the lesson he didn't look at her once.

x

Flying lessons started on the following Thursday and Beth was immensely looking forward to them. As she, Tyrone and Iliana stepped onto the Quidditch Pitch. Iliana said "Does any one know who's teaching us yet?" Tyrone looked uncomfortable and moved closer to Beth. As he walked he took her hand and gave it a small squeeze, she gave a shy smile at the touch of Tyrone's hand, but this went unnoticed to Iliana who carried on talking regardless. "I've been looking up former pupils who were good at Quidditch, good enough to teach us. There was Oliver Wood of course, you know, England's Keeper." She said at the oblivious look on Beth's face. "But he's far too busy to be teaching us." At this Beth stopped listening; Iliana was rather obsessed about famous people for some reason and often went on keenly who her mother had met at some point in her line of work as an Obliviator, whatever _that _was.

Her eyes went on to the pitch, Tyrone's hand still in hers. There she saw two lines of broomsticks, and the back of a dark haired man who was speaking to Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be giving him a bit of a going over. Without turning to them as they approached he yelled; "Stand by a broom, and don't do any thing until I say." They all did so, and Beth strained her ears to try and find what they were talking about. There was too much background noise to even catch a word but the Head Mistress was pointing a finger at the man threateningly, by his stance he seemed completely unphased by this threatening posture.

Beth looked around at her friends, and could see Iliana craning her neck to see who this mystery man was. Tyrone, however, kept his head down, kicking the end of his tatty broom, causing it to bump into hers. He sighed and Beth furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what was wrong with him. He normally seemed so cheerful but today he seemed so miserable. Beth nudged him in the ribs and smiled which he half heartedly returned.

The man turned around but his head was still down so that she didn't see his features enough to recognise him, not that Beth would have anyway. That was one thing that had shocked her. After coming from a small village where she knew everyone to this place where she knew no one frightened her a little, and she kept looking at people expecting to recognise them when she couldn't.

"Put your right hand over you broom and say up!" Beth bit her lip and saw other people do it first, Tyrone's of cause, after all his prior training, went straight into his hand. Others, Iliana and another girl called Jade's did nothing. A couple of others rolled, and some went into their hands on their second and third attempts. Aiden Clark's, another Gryffindor, smacked him straight in the face, causing an outbreak of laughter amongst the rest of the pupils.

Beth inhaled a breath and said very firmly "Up!" To her utter astonishment it went straight into her hand! She was so pleased with herself; she smiled brightly at Tyrone, who returned her smile, before she smiled at Iliana. But her face was so in awe of their teacher, she wasn't paying any attention to her friend's achievement. Beth followed her gaze to the Teacher, who still hadn't introduced himself. He had black messy hair and glasses and was quite short, but really just an average twenty- something man in Beth's opinion. Although as she looked at him, something struck her as familiar, but she still had no idea why Iliana was so amazed by him.

All of a sudden she heard this shrieking in her ear, "Beth, Beth!" squealed Iliana, shaking Beth's arm enthusiastically as she spoke.

"It's Harry Potter!"

A/N: Review please!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: More Than You Think You Are

**Author:** Ygraine

**Summary:** After the war, Ginny flees the wizarding world, but now her daughter has come to Hogwarts, only to find stares and whispers where-ever she goes...

**Disclaimer: **Needless to say, I'm not JK Rowling, so this story is for enjoyment only, not to make profit in anyway.

**A/N**: My freind Dary Beta'd this chapter as Jim was busy:) And, sorry about the wait

**Chapter 3**

Oh, Beth though to herself, that's what he looks like. Her broom was still floating by her side and Iliana's hand still clutching at her arm. He's really rather normal looking despite how much Iliana goes on about him. Beth sighed and took hold of her broom; more students were awestruck from the 'Fantastic Mr Potter.' The man seemed unphased at most of the pupils goggling at him. Although when he looked at Beth, who was still holding her broom, he smiled, glanced at Iliana (who knowing she was gawking at him) and rolled his eyes slightly, and then saw Tyrone, gaze lowering slightly for a moment, and winked.

First the broom is floating then she has it in her hand...?

Confused, she looked down at her hand and saw Tyrone's hand jerk away, only when it was gone did Beth miss the slight tickling sensation in her fingers. She looked up at Tyrone and blinked, he was looking into the distance, unfocused, a slight pink tinge in his cheeks, which could have been mistaken for the cold air...

"Once everyone has done that, I want you to mount your broom," Potter was continuing. Everyone one did so, Iliana pulled her skirt nervously, "Now, on my whistle, jump hard, and hover in the air, about five feet or so, and then tilt the handle down slightly so you come to a landing." He smiled, and blew his whistle.

Beth jumped and felt the wind in her hair, she hovered a bit higher than she was told, but Potter didn't seem to mind, he smiled at the class, Iliana and Aiden were barely off the ground, but Harry praised them nontheless. Next to her, she saw Tyrone, and he flew slowly over to her and smiled brightly. He looked down at Potter and smiled, and flew upwards some more. Beth followed him, slowly, careful not to fall. He seemed so proud of himself. Beth looked down and was unnerved slightly at the height they were at. It was really rather high, about twice the height of her peers.

"Don't worry, you won't fall. Harry's put a safety net, in case any one should. But you won't, I won't let you." Tyrone said smoothly.

"You won't let me? How won't you let me?"

He laughed slightly, "Actually, I'll just scream 'Harry, catch!' Safety net or no, it'll still hurt a bit to fall all that way. But the sentiment remains the same."

Beth straightened her back, her confidence building somewhat. "You know him don't you." He blushed violently "You said on the train, that your dad knew the Potters. You also said that your Godfather taught you to fly and was a Quidditch fan. Harry Potter's your Godfather, isn't he?"

"Yes." Tyrone mumbled, he became serious suddenly "Don't tell Iliana. She'll just ask questions about him. I promised Harry, he wants to live in peace, ever since the war..."

Beth furrowed her eyebrows and flew even higher for privacy, it really was the best way, as no one else appeared to have the stomach to do it yet. "What happened?" She asked when Tyrone had caught up with her. "Apart from the fact that he had to kill that Voldemort person."

Tyrone bit his lip and seemed conscious that people were around, no matter how far below, he answered in a quiet whisper. "Well, some of his friends died. He was really close to the Weasleys, they were a large family and a number of them died. My mum told me that Harry was er...'causually seeing' the youngest...but she died. Harry hasn't been the same since."

Beth blinked. "She died! Oh my..." Poor Mr Potter...

"Well, her body was never recovered, but so many were mained and..." He shivered. "Everyone thinks that she died."

"Tyrone!" A voice called, they both looked down, Harry was beckoning them down.

"Come on now, thats enough showing off!" There was good humour in his voice and

Tyrone giggled slightly before he and Bethany made their way down.

It was quite a smooth landing, except the fact that she stumbled slightly, luckily no one but Mr Potter noticed, he helped her up, she turned to smile at him, their eyes met, and he blinked at the look in her eyes.

That was new. Her eyes, may well be the most boring eyes ever. Hazel eyes, they did nothing for her complexion, so they stood out quite boldly. That must be it!

"What's your name?"

"Bethany Richardson." She replied.

"Ah, heard a lot about you from my Godson, I have. Harry Potter, pleased to meet you." She turned to her friend, who was scarlet and looking at anything but her.

"Have you met Iliana Thorne?" He asked, grabbing the blonde. Potter blinked at her too, which settled Beth's nerves somewhat. Iliana looked around, confused slightly, after talking to Aiden, at the first sight of Harry however, she smiled and started talking. Beth rolled her eyes.

Tyrone did the same.

x

Harry didn't teach them again, just that one time. The strange looks around the school continued as ever, but Beth soon learned to ignore them, and the week before the Christmas holidays, Iliana was moaning about Professor Snape. Again.

"I mean, if he just washed his hair once in a while, he would be so much easier to look at." She was whinging.

"Yes, because his teaching methods have everything to do with how he looks." Beth shot back before even thinking.

"Well, yeah." Iliana replied, twiddling her own hair in the process. "I can't look at him, so therefore I can't concentrate."

Beth sighed angrily. Iliana, no matter how much Beth liked her, could really be rather shallow. She threw her quill onto her parchment, making a blue blob of ink on it.

Snape wouldn't be happy about that. As she got her wand and tried to clean her mess, she spoke to her blonde friend. "You shouldn't care about what a teacher looks like. You should be listening to what they have to say."

"Well." Iliana said leaning forward. "You would say that about Snape, you're his favourite pupil."

Beth shook her head, and kept her head down, trying to clean her parchment, hiding her blush. "I'm not..."

Iliana laughed, "Yes you are. You should see his eyes when he looks at you! I'm expecting to see a ring any day now."

Beth choked on her own saliva. "Excuse me?" She yelled, her anger levels rising, "You take that back, that's gross!"

Iliana looked shocked and almost insulted at Beths outburst. "Jeez, girl, I was only joking, keep your hair on!"

Beth sighed. "I'm sorry Iliana, I'm just so frustrated! I came here three months ago, and still people stare at me, especially the teachers, and I don't know why!"

Iliana offered a small smile. Trying to comfort her, she moved next to her and offered

Beth a hug, who took it gratefully. "If you want, I could ask my mum and dad, they may know, but I doubt it, I think it's a Hogwarts thing."

Beth nodded into Ilianas shoulder, and hoped again hoped that it would all blow over, and people would forget by the time the Holidays ended. Then, she would seek some answers. The answers that she deserved.

A/N: PLease please PLEASE review! puppy dog eyes


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